


i swear that you’ve been sent to save me

by Dylanobrienisbatman



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Childhood Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, First Kiss, Forehead Touching, Friends to Lovers, Grief/Mourning, High School, Teen Romance, canon adjacent, very much luke x julie centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27953375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dylanobrienisbatman/pseuds/Dylanobrienisbatman
Summary: Julie knew her soulmate was a songwriter, she’d spent years listening to him work out lyrics, the music he had stuck in his head playing out in hers.She’s still shocked to discover that it’s one of the boys from Sunset Curve.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 33
Kudos: 626





	i swear that you’ve been sent to save me

**Author's Note:**

> Song title from Always Been You by Shawn Mendes! Thanks Linds for reading this for me, I love ya <3

_Hear the noise in my head  
_ _It's calling out like a voice I can't forget  
_ _One life, no regrets  
_ _Catch up, got no time to catch my breath_

The lyric had been playing over and over in her head for two days, a single lyric to a song she’d never heard. It had become a pretty common occurrence these last few months, a single lyric playing over and over. Sometimes the words would change, sometimes the melody. He was writing songs, she had realised after a few weeks, and it made her smile. When he would move on to the next lyric she always felt lighter, like she took a much needed breath. This one she liked, she had decided halfway through calculus yesterday morning when she caught herself tapping her foot along to the tune as she tried to untangle the problem on their pop quiz. 

It was less nice now, as she stared at the black and white of her mom’s grand piano and willed herself to sing something. Literally one single thing. 

Finally she gave up and called Flynn. 

“JULES!!” She had to pull the phone from her ear at the sound. 

“Wanna come over? I’m in the studio.” 

She could hear it in the pause, the thing Flynn wanted to say but bit back in favour of not mentioning it. 

“What’s Ray got on?”

“Brownies. The ones with the raspberry jam in them that you like.” 

“Lead with that next time.” Flynn hung up, and was at her house in 20 minutes, throwing her bike in the yard and walking in without knocking. 

“Hi Mr. Molina!”

“Flynn, como esta?” Ray called, almost absently from where he was hunched over his desk, fiddling with the exposure on his camera.

“Starving!” She groaned, grabbing a brownie from the counter as she passed through. 

“Staying for dinner? Tia Victoria brought lasagna!” 

“Oh yes please, my mom is making _quinoa_ again!” SHe scoffed, and Ray let out a soft laugh as he shook his head at her. “Thanks mr. Molina!” She called from the doorway, and he went back to his work. 

When she walked into the studio out back, the evening light pouring through the door, Julie was sitting at the piano, gently touching the keys to match the beat of the tune in her head. 

“New lyric today?” 

“Same as yesterday.”

“Any good?”

“Yeah, i actually like this one. Way better than that one about somebody’s teeth from last summer.” 

“Oh god, and that one went on for almost a month!” Flynn flopped down on the couch, looking over as she wiggled around until she was upside down, her head hanging off the edge. “Did you play anything?” She asked, finally breaking the tender truce she had made on the phone. 

Julie just sighed and closed the cover on the piano, coming to sit on the floor next to Flynn’s head. 

“Nope. Not a single note.” 

Flynn turned to lay flat after a minute, and when she spoke her voice was stuffy from all the blood pooling in her head. Julie tried not to snicker. 

“It’ll happen when it’s time.” 

“Yeah, but the sophomore showcase is next week. I don’t know how much longer Mrs. Harrison is going to keep giving me a pass.”

“Jules…” Flynn paused, and a wave of sadness washed over them both. Just like it did anytime they talked about her mom. 

“Maybe it’s just… gone.” 

“No way. No way music just… goes. It’s part of you. You’ll find a way.” 

“I hope you're right.” 

She missed the way it felt when she played, like the music flowed through her, pouring out of her and into the world. 

But mostly she just missed her mom. Singing was what they did together. She had a million memories of them squished onto the piano bench, her mom's hands covering hers as she helped guide her fingers across the keys. When she closed her eyes she could smell her mom's rose perfume and hear her voice like a distant song playing too loud on a speaker somewhere unseen. 

Flynn left after dinner, and Julie was once again left alone with her thoughts as she sat on her bed flipping through her english homework. Her mind wandered to where the song her mom had written for her sat untouched in the studio outside, waiting to be played. 

She fell asleep with her soulmate's lyric playing on repeat in her head, wondering if he was worried about her. 

She couldn’t remember the last time she had a song stuck in her head. 

The next morning the lyric had taken new form, as if in his dreams he’d come up with the answer, and by midday the little tune had faded from her mind. It was almost a shame, but she felt that weight lift, like she was the one who had worked so hard to perfect one line, one melody, in a song. Her day was going great, actually. She had aced her pop quiz in calc yesterday, her Spanish test was postponed a week because her teacher got the flu, and they were having a reading day in english lit, so she was able to catch up on The Scarlet Letter. 

Her day _was_ going great, until Luke Patterson showed up 20 minutes late to English lit (meaning he had definitely been somewhere other than study hall last period) and slouched into the seat behind her, and immediately began to bother her. 

“Julie.” He hissed, trying not to get the teachers attention. “ _Julie!”_ Somehow quieter and louder at the same time, she spun around, her eyes narrowed at him. 

“ _What?!”_

“Can I borrow your book?” 

She lifted it up, her finger holding her place. 

“You mean this book? The one I am currently reading?” 

“Yeah.” 

“No!” She shook her head in amazement before turning back around. 

He tugged on a curl at the back of her head, and she ignored him. Until he did it for a fourth time, and she spun around. 

“Can I at least look over your shoulder? I can’t look like I’m doing nothing!”

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you showed up to English without the book we’re reading?” He just kept staring at her, and she scoffed. “Just ask Mrs. Becerra for another copy! She’s got like 5 on her desk for this exact reason!”

“Yeah, but if _I_ ask she’ll get mad…” He plastered a stupid little grin on his face and she finally caught on. 

“So you want me to ask?” 

“She likes you, and you’re such a good student she’ll totally let you take one!” 

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Patterson.” 

He just smiled even brighter, and Julie flipped her head around again, pretending she wasn’t two seconds and a little bit of sweetly worded begging away from handing over her book. 

He knew it too. 

They played this little game quite often. 

“Aw come on Jules, you know I only ask cuz you’re the only one patient enough to put up with me.” 

There it is. She bit back a smile, rolling her eyes before she smoothed her expression and slid him the book. 

“You’re a lifesaver Molina, an absolute angel!” 

“Yeah, yeah.”

He was right, of course. Mrs. Becerra handed her the book with a smile, and she barely even acknowledged that Julie had just been reading her own book only seconds before. 

At the end of the class, when Luke bumped their shoulders and passed her back her book, she tried to hide the little spark she always felt when he was around, sliding it into her bookbag and heading on to chemistry without another word. 

Luke had always been this way. When he was a kid it was soccer, then football in middle school, and then he and his friends started a band their freshmen year and never looked back. Whatever it was, it was always more important than school. 

And it wasn’t that Luke wasn’t smart. He was almost, _almost,_ as smart as her. He just always seemed to care more about whatever thing he was doing that wasn’t school. 

And honestly, his band, Sunset Curve, was actually good. Like, really good. She’d never admit that to him, but she had actually gotten Flynn to get her one of their EPs at a gig once. Luke was sure that they were going to make it, and she wasn’t sure he was wrong about that. 

He should still at least try to pass high school though.

By the end of her Chen class, a new song was dancing around in her head, some catchy line from a Shawn Mendes song, if she was remembering correctly. She tapped along to the beat as she watched the clock tick down to the end of the hour, and then googled the lyric, listening to it repeat the whole way home. At least her soulmate had good taste. 

She stepped off the bus in front of her house to her Tia Victoria’s car in the drive, and took a hard left to head around back to the studio. 

Tia Victoria meant well, she did. After Rose had died, Victoria had inserted herself right into their little bubble, trying her best to fill the void Julie’s mom had left behind. She cooked constantly, signed up to be Team Mom for Carlos's t-ball club, and had become almost overbearing with Julie about school. It was her way of caring, and her way of staying busy so she wouldn’t have to think too much about her sister. Julie loved her, and she knew they’d never have made it without her after everything happened, but sometimes she could be too much, and today felt like one of those days. 

She plopped down at the piano, her hands coming to rest on the lid, and stared at the sheet music in her moms curling script. She thought about lifting the lid and letting her fingers fall across the keys, but she just sat there, staring at the piano. Eventually she just stood up and laid on the couch instead, pulling out her book and reading until her dad called her in for dinner. 

Friday seemed to creep by, and by the time she got to English lit again she was barely even awake, her eyes falling as she leaned over the writing assignment they had been given. Luke seemed to notice, tapping her on the shoulder with his pen to get her to wake up. 

“If you got ink on my shirt I'll kick your ass, Patterson.” She hissed halfheartedly through her teeth. 

“The cap was on, chill!” He said with a chuckle, before passing her a folded up piece of paper. 

“Are we passing notes now?” She asked and he just glared at her. 

“Just open it!” 

_8pm, Bobby Wilson’s place._

“What is this?” She turned, and he seemed almost playfully annoyed that she wasn’t getting it. 

“We’re playing a gig at Bobby’s house tonight, he’s having a party with Carrie and their dad is inviting some big exes or something. Carrie’s trying to get them to sign Dirti Candy, but we’re allowed to play after the ones she cares about leave.” 

“How thoughtful.” 

“Hey, we’ll take what we can get. Besides, any label that wants to sign Carrie really isn’t our speed anyway.” He tipped back in his chair, balancing on the back legs, and a childish part of her had the urge to reach out and push him, but she refrained. 

“So you want me to come to your gig, that’s what this is all about?” 

“Obviously, Molina.” He slammed the front legs of his chair down as he leaned forward, suddenly very much in her space where she was leaning over his desk behind her. She swallowed hard but didn’t move away. His eyes were shining and she wanted to- 

He sat back just a little, and she straightened up. 

“You could have just asked like a normal person.”

“Yeah, probably.” He was almost laughing, and she just flipped herself around, letting her smile break when she wasn’t facing him. 

“I’ll think about it.” 

“Bring Flynn too, she’s cool.” 

Before she could respond, Mrs. Becerra started the lesson, and she finally had something to focus on other than his perfect freaking smile. 

Flynn was already at her house when she got home, nibbling on the peanut butter cookies Tia Victoria had brought over and helping Carlos with his math homework. Julie plopped down on the couch, exhausted, and closed her eyes until Flynn came over and tapped her on the forehead. 

“We going to the Sunset Curve gig tonight?” She asked instead of saying hello. 

“You know about that?” 

“Everyone knows about that.”

Duh, of course. 

“Luke told me about it in english, he asked me to bring you along.” 

“Luke Patterson invited you to his gig?” Flynn wiggled her eyebrows and Julie hit her with a pillow. “Oh come on Jules, the resident bad boy of Junior year invited _you_ to his gig.” 

“Luke isn’t a bad boy.” 

“He skips school and is in a pop rock band. It’s the affluent high school equivalent of a bad boy.”

“Fair.” 

“Anyway, _he_ invited you?” 

“Yes, shut up. We’re in the same class, sometimes we chat.” 

“Did he invite anyone else in your class?” 

“Shut up, Flynn.” 

Flynn had brought at least four outfits with her in a duffle bag big enough to fit Carlos inside, so they hauled it up to Julie’s room, and suddenly it was like an 80’s movie montage. Flynn flipped on some music, and they were singing and dancing around in her moms feather boa with hairbrush microphones, pretending to perform in their outfits, when Ray opened the door (after several unanswered knocks), and they dissolved into a pile of giggling teenage girl on her bedroom floor. 

They left at 8, giving them 27 minutes exactly to get to Carrie’s on their bikes. 

Carrie and Bobby were twins, and Carrie used to be the third member of their friend group, but for reasons Julie never really understood, she wasn’t anymore. Bobby was the rhythm guitarist in Sunset Curve, and the shallow truce between the siblings was the only reason Julie and Flynn were even allowed at this party. Even though they were technically welcome, they still lingered awkwardly on the edge of the party until they spotted Luke and Reggie across the room. The boys waved them over, and they went willingly into the warm embrace of a comfortable conversation. 

The night was a kaleidoscope around her, spinning through the room, people weaving in and out, until Sunset Curve stepped on the stage, and suddenly Julie’s night finally seemed to fall into perfect focus. 

She’d never actually seen Luke perform before, she suddenly realised.

She would remember if she had.

He seemed to levitate on stage, as if pure joy itself had the power to bend gravity to its will. He was radiant. He seemed to become the music as he played, every jump and step matching to it with the greatest ease. He moved with the songs as if he had built them for himself, to play around inside. She had never seen someone become themself before, but seeing Luke on stage, she realised she had never really _seen_ him before. 

He was made for this. 

At first, the music seemed to blur in the background as she watched him, burning brightly at the center of her vision, but the edges started to fill in and the songs took her over too. She jumped and danced with Flynn, her eyes never straying too far from Luke. 

They had played a couple old songs that she’d heard before, catchy and fun and really good, and then Luke stopped for a minute. 

“Thanks for coming guys, we’re having a blast up here.” The crowd cheered, and Julie caught herself yelling along with them. He had captured every last one of them. They were his for however long he was up there. 

“We have a new song to finish out the set, if you’re down?” The crowd seemed to be more than down for this idea. 

“Awesome!” Reggie spoke from the left of the stage. “We’ve been Sunset Curve! Tell your friends!” 

The song started with a hard guitar riff, and then Luke cut in with a raspy vocal that ripped a cheer from Julie’s throat without her permission. Flynn grinned hard beside her, but never said a word. 

_Take off, last stop  
_ _Countdown 'til we blast open the top  
_ _Face first, full charge  
_ _Electric hammer to the heart  
_ _Clocks move forward  
_ _But we don't get older, no_

 _Kept on climbing  
_ _'Til our stars collided  
_ _And all the times we fell behind  
_ _Were just the keys to paradise_

The song felt… familiar, but she couldn’t place why. She stopped jumping as the chorus rang out loud. 

_Don't look down  
_ _'Cause we're still rising  
_ _Up right now  
_ _And even if we hit the ground  
_ _We'll still fly  
_ _Keep dreaming like we'll live forever  
_ _But live it like it's now or never_

Julie felt her heart rate pick up, different from the adrenaline and the excitement. Something was happening. Was about to happen. She could feel it. 

_Hear the noise in my head  
_ _It's calling out like a voice I can't forget  
_ _One life, no regrets  
_ _Catch up, got no time to catch my breath_

It was like all the oxygen in the room had been sucked out, silence and breathlessness in tandem. She let her eyes fall across the four boys on the stage with the sudden crashing realisation falling from the sky seconds later. 

One of them was her soulmate. 

She grabbed Flynn by the hand and dragged her from the room. 

“Jules what the hell?!” Flynn, good friend that she was, seemed more concerned than upset that Julie had just dragged her out of the final song of a great set. 

“Someone in Sunset Curve is my soulmate.” She blurted out, which was good because she hadn’t been entirely sure she wouldn’t vomit when she opened her mouth to speak. 

Flynn was flabbergasted. 

“WHAT?!?” She exclaimed. 

“The song, the new song. I was hearing it in my head all week. That’s the lyric I was telling you about, ‘ _hear the noise, in my head’.”_

Flynn looked confused. Julie continued on, exasperated. 

“All week, that lyric has been in my head. But it’s been changing, just a little, like someone was writing a song. The guys, they said this was a new song, something they’ve never played before.”

Flynn finally seemed caught up. 

“One of those four boys in there is your soulmate.” 

“Yeah. Whichever one was writing that song this week. It could have been any of them.” 

“I bet it’s Luke.” 

“No way, no way Luke is my soulmate.” Julie pulled her jacket around her chest a little more tightly. 

“Well it’s not Alex. He found his soulmate last fall. It’s that senior boy Willie, the skater kid.” 

“So that leaves Reggie, Luke… and Bobby.” 

“No way it’s Bobby, we’ve known him for years. We’d have known.” 

“Maybe not?” 

“Okay, like we’re obviously not ruling him out but… seems unlikely.” 

“God I hope it’s not _Bobby_.” Bobby felt like a brother to Julie, she had grown up with him, spending so many afternoons upstairs with the twins while her mom and their dad Trevor wrote music together. 

“It’s totally Luke.”

“It could be Reggie.” 

Flynn just raised her eyebrows and looked away.

Julie tried really hard not to think about how much she hoped it _wasn’t_ Reggie.

The music from inside died down, and the cheering got louder. The boys soaked it in for a minute before they hopped off stage and came rushing out into the yard, letting the cool night air wash over them. 

Luke saw her instantly and ran over. 

“Julie, I’m so glad you came!” He announced, loudly, as he wrapped her in the sweatiest hug she’d ever experienced. 

He let go far too soon. 

Had they ever hugged before?

He was still glowing, an intoxicatingly pure and wonderful energy cascading off of him in waves. He was tapping Flynn’s fist with his own, a half hug accompanied by Flynn’s praises and his slightly sheepish smile, and Julie was transfixed by everything about him. When he turned his attention back to her, the full force of him was slightly dizzying. 

“You guys were incredible, Luke.” She heard herself saying, and it sounded right, if a little to the left of her meaning. _He_ had been incredible, is what she wanted to say.

“Thanks, Molina.” He said through a massive grin, and for a moment they were just looking at each other, huge smiles and soft eyes, wrapped in the moment for an eternity of now. 

The spell broke when the doors opened, and party guests poured into the yard, the sound of the world crashing back into her. 

He leaned in close, his lips almost brushing her cheek. 

“Really glad you came, Julie.” 

He pulled back slowly, his hand brushing against her arm, their eyes locking for just a split second, and then he turned and let his adoring fans envelope him. 

She _really_ hoped her soulmate wasn’t Reggie. 

By the time Sunday rolled around, she had gotten herself so worked up she didn’t sleep a wink, and was completely exhausted in class the next day. 

Sophomore Music didn’t help. 

“Julie, can you stay after for a minute?” 

Mrs. Harrison pulled her to the side, and waited for the last student to leave. 

“Julie, you still haven’t submitted a song for the Sophomore Showcase. It’s this Friday.” 

She picked at her cuticles and tried not to cry. 

“I don’t have anything, Mrs. Harrison. I just… I’m sorry.” 

The only saving grace was that there was no pity mixed with the sadness in Mrs. Harrison’s eyes. 

“Julie, I spoke with the Principal. Today was the deadline for your showcase song, but she knows your circumstances are difficult right now. If you can find something to perform by the spring talent show, we can count that as your showcase grade.”

“And if I can’t?” 

“Then we need to make space in the music program for a student who is capable of participating.” 

“Right.” 

“We’ve assigned you a partner, maybe that will help.” 

“A partner?” 

“Someone to play your accompaniment. He needs some extra credit of his own, so we told him we had a student who would need his help and he obliged.” Mrs. Harrison led her down the hall towards the upperclassmen music room, where Luke was sitting, strumming his guitar. 

“You can cover something, you can write something of your own, but you have to play something at the talent show, Julie. I know this is difficult for you, but I believe in you.” She turned to Luke. “Mr. Patterson, I assume you’ve met Julie.” 

“Yes ma’am I have.” 

“The show is in one month. Good luck.” 

The only sound for a moment was the door swinging closed, and then Luke spoke up. 

“She didn’t tell me who I’d be working with, I was worried it would be someone weird.” 

“You were right.” She poked at herself, and he laughed a little, an easy smile dancing across his face. She stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. 

Luke seemed to be willing to let the tension go on for about 3 minutes, before he just cut to it. 

“So why are you here?” 

Julie closed her eyes, and took a breath. As much as she didn’t want to sit here and cry to Luke Patterson about her mom, part of her was grateful that he had asked. It broke the awkwardness, and thinking about her mom always brought her back down to herself. 

“My mom, she died last year. We used to write music together, and sing together… ever since she died I just haven’t… I can’t play.” 

“Are you still writing?” He was pensive and serious, and she found a chair nearby. 

“Not really. I keep a box, with little thoughts and things… like the beginnings of lyrics… but none of them ever seem to turn into anything anymore.” 

He nodded along, like he was taking notes in his head. 

“Maybe if we work together, we could write something.” 

“You want to write a song together?” She felt her palms get clammy just thinking about it. 

“Why not?” 

She didn’t have a response, which seemed to please him. 

“Just one problem, if I can’t play it won’t matter if we write something.” 

“You’ll play.” He said, very matter of fact. 

“And how do you know?” 

“Cuz you’re a star Julie. I’ve always known it. You just have to figure it out for yourself.” 

The late bell rang, and he picked up his bag, slinging his guitar over his shoulder. 

“I’m late for PE, but text me, and we’ll get to work.” He handed her the ripped corner of a notebook page with his number scratched out and headed for the door. 

“You seem eager to do this considering it’s for school.” 

“But it’s music, Julie. That’s different,” and he was gone. 

That afternoon he tapped out a beat on his desk behind her and she let her head fall on her desk as she drifted off to sleep. He tapped her shoulder at the end of class to wake her, and she tried to hide the little bit of drool pooling at the corner of her mouth. 

“Wanna come over after school sometime this week? We can use the studio we have out back to write.” 

“Sure, I’ve got practice with the guys today but tomorrow? I’ll wait for you after school?” 

“Sure.” 

The next afternoon as she climbed into Luke’s passenger seat, she tried not to think about how he might be her soulmate. 

He put on some music a little too loud, but she didn’t complain. Listening to him sing along was better than trying to make uncomfortable conversation when she really didn’t have anything to say. That, and she liked listening to him sing. 

They pulled into her driveway, and she let out a breath. He turned off the car and they sat quietly for a moment. 

“So… I’ve got some unfinished Sunset curve stuff we can take a look at, maybe it’ll get the creative juices flowing?” 

“I’m willing to try anything at this point.” 

“Who knows, maybe I’m your secret weapon.” He said with a wink as he unlatched his seat belt and stepped out of the car. She followed, leading him through the house and out into the studio out back, the obligatory stop in the kitchen for something Ray had baked and a quick hello. Once they got to the studio, he flopped down on the couch like he’d been there a thousand times, digging through his bookbag and pulling out a tattered and clearly well loved notebook, holding it out to her to take. 

“There are some unfinished songs on the last couple pages, mostly just sort of half baked lyrics, thought maybe if you wanted to share from that box you were talking about, we might find something good to start us off if we put our heads together.” He seemed eager, and happy. It was a nice look on him. 

She didn’t miss his not so subtle comment about seeing the lyrics in her box. She thought about the ones she had scribbled out on Friday night after she got home from his gig. Something half poetic about the sticky sweat and joy she had experienced, about the way he lit up a room. 

“Let me go get that, I’ll be right back.” 

“Can you grab me a drink too? Whatever is fine.” 

She ran up to her room and removed the Friday night confessions from her box before grabbing two cans of Coke from the fridge out in the garage and heading back to the studio. Luke was sitting at the piano, gently pressing the keys to play a slow, soulful melody. His eyes were closed, the slightest squint across the bridge of his nose as he moved his body with the music, trying to find the next note in the sequence. She stood in the doorway a moment and listened. It wasn’t a song she knew, probably something he’d been working on, and it was lovely. _He_ was lovely. He played like that for a moment longer, until a wrong key clashed harshly with the floating notes and he let out a gruff and irritated sound before opening his eyes and finding her watching him. 

She had the decency to look a little sheepish and pretend she hadn’t been watching long. She handed over the box and settled on the couch as he stood up and laid out the papers across the top of the piano. He seemed to be sorting them, but by what she had no idea. 

“Some of these…” He let his voice trail off, hyper-focused on the words in front of him, “Some of these are really something, Julie.” He was so sincere, and her heart leapt a little in her chest. 

“Yeah?” 

“You said you used to write songs with your mom?” 

“Yeah, we started writing together when I was really young.” She started flipping through to the back pages of his book. His lyrics were good, and she told him as much, flipping through the pages until she found something that stopped her. 

_To take us where we wanna go  
_ _It's never straight, no_

“What’s this for?” She walked over to him, pointing out the scribbled writing on the corner of a page filled with unconnected phrases and lyrics. 

“Not sure, it just came to me one night. I kinda like it though, why? What are you thinking?” 

“Not sure yet, but it might fit with…” She flitted her hand over the scattered scraps of her mind spread out in the open until she found the one she was looking for. 

She hummed a little of the tune in her head and showed it to him, earning her a grin. 

“I think you might be onto something, Molina.” He plopped down at the piano, and started to play. Writing with Luke, it turned out, might have been just what she needed. 

In the weeks leading up to the talent show, they wrote furiously, finding time between classes, after class, sometimes even Face-Time in the morning while she brushed her teeth to hear the guitar riff he’d been playing with into the long hours of the night. The song seemed to be flowing out of them, and Julie felt like a sleeping limb starting to wake back up. The lyrics were good, the melody was coming together perfectly, and with Luke’s voice and killer guitar, she was pretty sure they were onto something spectacular. 

If only she could just _sing_. Her fingers had been itching to play their song on the piano, but something was standing in her way. Every time she sat down, their words written out before her, she would freeze up, like always. 

Two weeks before the talent show, she was ready to scream in frustration. No matter how good the song was, it wouldn’t matter if she couldn’t bring herself to play a single note on the stupid piano, or sing one lousy verse. She kicked her backpack away from her feet and stood up to pace angrily around the room, until her eyes fell on the song her mom had written for her, still resting exactly where Rose had left it. 

Julie walked over slowly, brushing the pages with her fingertips with reverence. Her mom had written this song for her a few weeks before she died, and Julie had never actually read it. She carried it over and set it out on the piano, letting her fingers rest on the keys. 

She took a breath. 

And she played. 

The moment the first note rang out through the studio, tears welled up in her eyes, but she kept playing. The song emerged from her fingertips as if they were a painter’s brush, and the art was beautiful. She let herself fall into it, to remember how it felt to do this thing she loved so dearly, and finally, she sang. 

When the song finished, she sat quietly on the bench, tears falling freely from her cheeks and onto her jeans, but they didn’t feel the same as the other tears she had shed for her mother. They felt new, they felt lighter. Her breath came shaky but new. She took another, and another, until her breath was strong and deep. Through her nose, out her mouth. She stood up from the piano, collecting the notes for their new song, and she felt like she was floating as she went to catch the bus. 

All morning, she felt like dancing through the hallways, her moms song growing strong on the perimeter of her mind, until she could almost hear, until she was tapping her foot gently, and then the lyrics were swelling. 

15 minutes into English lit, she caught herself tapping her foot and humming under her breath, barely audible to herself, until she was dragged out of her head by Luke’s voice behind her. 

“Oh thank god.” He breathed out, relief palpable in his voice. 

She spun around, a questioning look on her face. 

He was tapping his pen quietly, and smiling to himself, almost dazed. 

“What?” 

“Noth-,” he took a breath, and looked up at her. “My soulmate. She hasn’t had a song stuck in her head in ages, and she just started singing to me.” 

Julie could feel her heartbeat in her ears, a rushing sound overwhelming her. She followed Luke’s pen, and it matched the beat of her mom’s song. 

_Oh._

She turned around in her seat, the song still playing in her head, listening as he tapped out the beat of her heart on his desk. 

Luke. 

It was Luke. 

The rest of class was a blur, and she knew she had no hope of making it through chemistry, so she feigned a terrible headache and left early, calling Flynn during her 7th period study hall. 

“It’s Luke.” Was all she said, and she heard Flynn scuffling about before the line went dead. 

Flynn was at her house moments after she was. 

She relayed the whole story to her, about playing the song, how she finally sang again, how the song was stuck in her head, and what happened in English, and if it was possible for someone to vibrate a hole in the floor Flynn would have accomplished that feat by the end of the story. 

“I KNE-w it was him!!” She started yelling, quickly lowering to a rough whisper when Julie shushed her. 

“I know.”

“I legit told you it was him.”

“I know, Flynn.” 

“I’m gonna make you a shirt that says “Flynn is always right” and make you wear it.”

“I will not wear that.” 

“You should, since I’m always right.”

She just glared at her. 

“So did you tell him?”

Julie just laughed, until she realised Flynn was serious. 

“You’re kidding right?” 

She wasn’t. 

“Oh yeah okay, so I just turn around and go “oh yeah you’re my soulmate” in the middle of English lit.” 

“Well you have to tell him!”

“I gotta find the right moment!”

“That’s Julie speak for I’m never gonna tell him.” 

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

“What even is ‘Julie speak’ that’s ridiculous.”

“Oh so I don’t have ‘Flynn speak’?” 

She absolutely did have Flynn speak. It was this exact conversation. Julie just shook her head. 

“He’s my soulmate, I’ll tell him when I’m ready.” 

“God do you know how many girls are gonna hate you when they find out?” 

“Great.” She groaned. 

“Oh Jules, it’s so romantic!! He helped you find music again, and music helped you find him!!” 

“Augh, shut up.” She fell back and grabbed a pillow to hold over her face, hiding the smile blooming there. It was pretty romantic, if she thought about it. 

She was gonna tell Luke, she was. 

Well… she meant too. She really did. But then he came over after school the next day to work on the song and she couldn’t tell him. She kept quiet and let him play the piano and sing along, working through the notes with him, and he was just… Luke. 

Luke that she’d known for years. Luke who had pulled her braids in elementary school. Luke who every single one of her friends had had crushes on. He was just the same as he had been 48 hours ago, he was the same as he had been her whole life. 

And he wasn’t. 

A week and a half to go before the show, and he showed up with Reggie and Alex in tow.

“So, we were thinking, maybe it would be easier for you to play again if you had a whole band to back you up. We have the song basically done, we can just add in their parts!” 

The guys looked positively gleeful, and she couldn’t help herself but smile. 

“Where’s Bobby?” 

“Oh, he made the mistake of telling Carrie and she forbid him from doing it with you.” Alex said, before stepping closer and continuing more quietly. “She really doesn’t like you for some reason.” 

“Shut up Alex!” Luke popped him in the back of the head, and a little scuffle began, ending with Alex emerging victorious with Luke trapped under his arm. 

“Anyway, it’ll be fun. The song’s sick!” Reggie said from where he was picking at the strings of his base, tuning it up. 

“I was actually gonna tell you,” she turned to Luke, “I sang the other day.” 

She didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but it wasn’t for him to leap up from the ground where he was pouting about losing to Alex and sweep her into a hug that lifted her from the ground. 

“Julie that’s awesome!!” He set her down, still standing so close she could count the golden flecks in his eyes, before he cleared his throat and stepped back. “Did you uh, did you play our song?” 

“No, something my mom left for me. But I played our song last night after you left, and I think it’s great.” 

He smiled, nodding fiercely. 

“Hell yeah, then let’s do this thing!” 

When Julie sang the first note of their song, Luke felt his breath catch in his chest. She seemed to melt into the music, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was astonishing, and she seemed to take on new life as she sang. 

Her voice was incredible, and Luke barely remembered to come in at his mark, stumbling over the first lyric, causing them to have to start over. 

They worked on Reggie’s baseline, the harmonies started to come together, and he knew something magical was happening in that studio, but all he could focus on was Julie. 

Julie Molina. 

He remembered the feeling in his chest when he came off stage at Carrie’s party and saw Julie standing outside. He hadn’t meant to rush over to her, to hug her, he knew he was probably disgusting, but he couldn’t help himself. She had just looked so pretty, and she had come to see him play. Seeing her out in the audience had breathed new life into him on stage, and he was sure he’d never played better than when she was cheering him on. 

And now she was playing music again, singing a song they had written together, and he was cheering her on, in his own way. 

Girls were always sort of low on Luke’s list of priorities. A girlfriend wasn’t going to get him a sold out stadium tour. A girlfriend wasn’t going to sign him to a record label. Every girl he ever tried to date had just gotten annoyed that he wanted to practice more than he wanted to hang out with her. Which wasn’t their fault, they just didn’t understand.

But Julie… Julie understood. Writing music with Julie was the easiest thing he’d ever done. The song had just poured out of them, and together they had made it into something remarkable. Their own lyrics, brought together to make something great. And now, she was playing with his band. She never seemed to want to do anything else except create magic with him, and he was sure he’d be happy doing that with her forever. 

He wasn’t sure when he’d fallen in love with Julie Molina, but he was realising it right then, in her studio, listening to her sing for the first time. 

They practiced for hours, barely realising that the sun had set when her dad came in and told them that they had no choice but to stay for dinner. As they passed by him on the way to the house, he snatched Julie into a fierce hug. 

“I’ve heard you singing out here the past few days, _mija_. I’m so glad you’re playing music again.” 

“Thanks dad.” She smiled into his chest, holding on tight. 

The boys were perfectly respectable, for three teenage boys. They ate at least two full plates each, and were very polite, please and thank you all around. Alex even offered to teach Carlos to drum, which was met with sheer jubilation by her younger brother, and a look of fear from her dad at the idea of an 11 year old with a drum kit. 

They practiced late into the evening, until Ray told them it was time to leave, and Luke lingered a minute after the boys went to his car. 

“You were really spectacular today, Julie.” 

“Thanks Luke.” She smiled brightly at him, and he stepped closer. 

“I really like making music with you, Julie.” His voice was softer, more serious, and he stepped closer still. She tried not to fidget. Another step, and he was in her space completely. 

“Me too.” She was barely above a whisper, and his smile could have blinded her. 

He leaned closer, tipping his head a little, and stopped, waiting for her to pull back. When she tipped her head up just a touch instead, he leaned forward and kissed her. 

Lips pressed together, his hand coming up to thread through her thick curls, she was floating in the moment. He held the kiss for just a minute, and when he went to pull away she pulled him back in, her hands catching in his shirt and holding him in the kiss for a minute longer. When she broke apart, he lingered, letting their noses brush for a heartbeat, two heartbeats, before someone honked his car horn and he let out a breathy laugh, pulling back. 

“See you in lit.” 

“Yeah, see ya.” She heard how dazed she sounded and laughed a little at herself, and he looked at her like she was the best thing he’d ever seen, for just a moment longer he held her gaze before turning and getting in the car. She traipsed upstairs in a daze, a cartoonishly large grin making her cheeks hurt as she lay in bed that night, thinking about how her soulmate had kissed her before he even knew. 

Thinking about how Luke had kissed her, just because he wanted too. 

For the first time since the Sunset Curve gig, she slept peacefully through the whole night. 

After that night, the boys were at every practice, and even when every spare minute went to texting and Face-Timing Luke about the song, she missed the quiet moments in the studio, just the two of them. He didn’t bring up the kiss, and she didn’t either, but he kept looking at her in a way that made her cheeks hot, and she never wanted it to stop. 

The night of the talent show, she could feel her heart beating in her ears, and her nerves were on fire. She was pacing in circles backstage when Luke came over to her and slipped his hand into hers. 

“You’ve got this. You’re gonna do awesome up there.” 

“Or I’m totally gonna choke and make a fool of myself.” 

He didn’t even entertain the notion. 

“Nah, the music is in you, Julie. You were made for this, just like me.”

“You think?” 

“I know. Our souls are the same, Molina. Music is in our blood.” 

Their souls. She looked up to find him smiling down at her, so full of warmth and kindness, and she felt weak in the knees. Their souls. They were the same, they were a perfect match. 

“Luke I-”

She was cut off as Mrs. Harrison announced her name to the crowd, and he lit up bright with excitement. He pressed a kiss into her cheek, lingering just a second longer than he needed too, and squeezed her hand before racing off to find his place on the stage before the curtains rose. 

The crowd clapped politely as she took her place at the piano. She looked over at Luke who gave her an encouraging nod, and she swallowed hard and started to play. 

The first notes felt terrifying, but the music came to her, like it always had, and soon she was enveloped in it. She sang and danced, she worked the stage with the boys, and by the time the song came to a close she felt lighter than air. 

Her family met her backstage, and she was wrapped in a hug so tight she could barely breath from her tia. Mrs. Harrison congratulated her over and over, and assured her she would keep her spot in the program. The whirlwind feeling swept her away, and she didn’t realise Luke had left until he was already gone. 

She had a text from him when she found her phone. 

**LUKE:** _You were electric up there Julie. You’re made for this. Don’t let anyone stop you. ❤️_

The adrenaline wore off half the way home and she fell asleep in the car, waking up to her dad trying to carry her inside. She texted him back once she was in her pajamas in bed. 

**JULIE:** _Thanks for everything Luke. You helped me get music back in my life, and I could never explain what that means to me. ❤️_

When she woke up, he still hadn’t responded, and the weekend went by without a word. She didn’t want to worry, but when Monday afternoon rolled around and he wasn’t in Lit she caved and tracked Reggie down after school. 

“He didn’t tell you?” He asked. It was clear by the way he said it that something bad had happened. 

“Tell me what?” 

“His mom, she died during the night on Friday. Doctors said it was an aneurysm or something.” 

It was like she’d been thrown into a frozen pool. The world sounded like it was underwater and her blood was like ice. 

She didn’t know exactly how she made it home. Tears were falling freely down her cheeks as she stared at her phone, the unread message she had sent him blurring through them. She wanted to call him, she wanted to just show up at his house, but she remembered what it was like when her mom had died. She remembered feeling like she was absolutely drowning, and the people who tried to help without her permission felt like they were adding weights to her ankles and calling them life jackets, making it harder to stay afloat while trying to save her. She refused to be that person to Luke. She sent him a text, letting him know Reggie had told her what happened, and offering to be there if he needed her, and left it at that. 

Almost 6 hours later, he responded with ‘thx’, and somehow she was relieved. It was short, and cold, but he was alive and he knew she was there, and that’s really all she could ask for in that moment. 

He was absent from school for the whole week, and she and her family were invited to the funeral on Saturday afternoon. 

She had never seen Luke like this before. He seemed small, like a child. His eyes were puffy and his nose was raw; she knew the feeling. No matter how good the tissues were, after a while they all felt like sandpaper. She hung back, giving him space to be with his dad, but her eyes never left him. She kept him in her sights, like if she could just see him he might be okay. At the end of the service, she found Luke standing under a tree in the cemetery, far from everyone else. She came up to him slowly, like he was some startled deer, and took his hand gently. He didn’t look at her, but he squeezed her hand tight. 

“I’m so sorry, Luke.” She whispered, staring at nothing with him. 

He just nodded, and they stood together in silence for a little while, until her dad called her name to go home. She turned to face him, reaching up to kiss him gently on the cheek pulling him down to press his forehead against hers, her hands cupping his face. He came willingly, letting out a shaky breath.

"Whatever you need, Luke. I'm here."

"Thanks, Julie." His voice was hoarse, from crying and from the silence. She hadn't seen him say a word the entire day. Seeing him this quiet was unnerving, and she pulled him into a hug, tucking his face into her neck and wrapping her arms around him tight. She could see her dad over his shoulder, and he nodded to her to let her know she could take a minute. She held him like that for a little while, and her dress was wet where his tears had collected when they let go, but she didn't say a word. She pressed another kiss into his cheek, and as she walked away he let his hand reach out to follow her, letting their fingers touch until she was out of his reach. She didn’t talk on the way home, and she had dinner in her room. Her mind was flooded with memories of her own mom’s funeral, and her heart was heavy with the loss. She couldn’t help the need she felt to be with Luke, to share in this burden with him somehow, but instead she curled up in bed and let the tears soak her pillowcase until she fell asleep. 

She didn’t hear from him the rest of the weekend, and by Wednesday she still hadn’t seen him in class. So she really didn’t expect to find him in her studio at 9pm when she went back in to get her math textbook that she had left on the couch. 

He was sitting on the floor next to the couch, tears shining on his cheeks. He looked exhausted, a weariness draped over him, weighing him down. He was in a pink hoodie that was too big for him, and the way his face was pressed into the crook of his arm, she was willing to bet it was his moms. It would still smell like her. Julie knew that trick. He had looked up, startled, when she had switched on the light, but he had let his head fall again after a moment. She cut the light off again, this moment feeling too quiet for such loud lights, and turned on her mom’s string lights instead before slowly easing into the space next to him on the floor and tucking her arm through the crook of his elbow and leaning into his side. He met her halfway, and they sat quietly there for a little while just pressed up next to each other in the warm dark of the studio. 

“I didn’t know where else to go. The guys are great but…” 

“They don’t understand.” She finished for him after he broke the silence. 

“Yeah.” 

She just nodded, and the quiet sank back down over them. They sat there for a while, her rubbing his arm gently, the only sound him sniffing quietly as he cried. He started speaking a couple of times but always fell back into silence, the words catching in his throat. She remembered that feeling, of wanting to say something, anything, to make someone understand what she was feeling, but the words just kept getting lost somewhere before she could say them. She just gave his arm a squeeze each time and said nothing. After a minute he stood up, like the pent up fury in his body was forcing him to move. 

“It’s not fair.” He fumed, and she nodded, an agreement and permission to keep going. “She… I just… it’s not. It’s not fair.” Luke had a way with words, his music was magical and his lyrics never failed to tell a deep story, but in this moment he was at a loss. Nothing could describe this, nothing could explain it away. It was just… unfair. 

“She had never come to see me play.” He sank onto the piano bench, letting his head fall onto the lid covering the keys. “She knew I was talented, she bought me the damn guitar, but she thought that I was going to waste my life with Sunset Curve. She never came to a show... “ Something in the way he spoke revealed a deeper truth to Julie. Luke had never asked her to come. She had never tried and he had never asked, and now there was no more time to extend that branch, for either of them. “She almost came to the talent show, but she couldn’t make it. She wanted to watch me play because I was playing with you.” He was whispering now, and she stood up, walking over to hear him better. “She thought you were going to be a good influence on me, that if I was playing with you I’d start being more responsible or something.” 

“She clearly misjudged me.” Julie said, trying to feign humor, but Luke looked up at her, very serious. 

“No. She was right.” He stood up, walking over to stand closer to her. “Playing with you, writing with you… It made me want to be more serious… it made me more serious about…” there was a pause, and he glanced up to meet her eyes from where he had been looking down at his hands, a flicker of a look escaping into the night before she could catch it, “about everything.” He stopped again, before turning and walking off, his nervous energy burning a hole from the inside out. “I just wish she would have… I wish I could have made her see, see how much Sunset Curve and the music meant to me.” 

“I’m sure she knew, even if she didn’t always approve, there’s no way anyone who loves you could miss your passion and your love for what you do, Luke.” The way the word _loves_ curled off her tongue with such ease wasn’t lost on her. 

“The last thing I said to her was “whatever mom”, when she told me she couldn’t make the show.” Julie winced a little. Her last words to her mom had been declarations of love and gratitude. But, then again, Julie had had time to prepare… Luke hadn’t been so lucky. 

He was pacing the room again, his hands coming up to grip at his hair, and she let out a sigh of relief as he finally, furiously, screamed at the top of his lungs. He screamed and screamed until his voice was hoarse, his tears falling in anger and grief. He collapsed onto the ground near the desk and curled into himself, his arms wrapped around his knees as he pulled them to his chest. Ray poked his head in, coming to check on all the yelling, but Julie sent him away quietly before sitting on the couch. 

“It’s just not fair, Julie.” 

“I know.” He looked up at her suddenly, and when their eyes met she felt more exposed than she could ever remember feeling. Like he was suddenly seeing all of the layers of grief and rage that she kept pressed down inside her. Like he was finally seeing all the parts of her she kept hidden, kept safe and secure and out of reach of everyone else. “I know.” She said again, unlocking the door and letting him see her. “It’s the most unfair and horrible thing in the whole world, and I’m so sorry you have to be here with me in this terrible, terrible place.” She wasn’t sure when she had started to cry but her cheeks were wet and her eyes stung.

He stood up and met her half way, wrapping her in a warm hug and holding on for dear life. They stood like that for a while until Luke’s body began to sag with exhaustion. She slowly led him over to the couch and helped him lie down, and as she went to grab a blanket a panicked hand reached out the minute she was no longer touching him. 

“Please don’t go.” He whispered, holding onto the sleeve of her hoodie like a lifeline, his eyes sad and pleading. She smiled, slowly detaching and walking over to grab a blanket before coming right back, laying it over him. 

“I’m not going anywhere.” She said quietly, but when she went to walk over to the chair, where she was planning to try to sleep, he grabbed her arm again. 

“Julie I-” He wanted her to stay with him on the couch, she realised. 

“O-Okay.” She stammered a little before stepping back over, brushing his fingertips with her own until he took her hand and pulled her down onto the couch gently, guiding her and making space for her to crawl in front of him. She slowly tucked herself into his space, her nose against his chest and her arm draped over his waist, and he pulled the blanket over them, his breathing beginning to slow already, the shaky and stuttering remnants of his sobs beginning to fade away. She thought about getting up, or finding some way to detangle them just a little (if her dad found them like this she wasn’t sure he wouldn’t pass out) but she could hear Luke’s heartbeat, and his arms were wrapped around her, and she felt so safe there, with him. She felt her own worry and fear ease as his breath slowed, and within minutes she was beginning to drift off and she fell asleep before Luke even started snoring. 

When Luke woke up, he was curled over Julie, her hair suffocating him. It was in his mouth, in his eyes, he was pretty sure it was in his ear somehow. It smelled like coconut. She grumbled something in her sleep, a halfhearted and barely audible protest to something, and he let himself fully smile at how cute she was. With no one around to see, he let himself feel how he felt about Julie. It was a little overwhelming. His cheeks hurt already. He laid there a minute before he had to pee so bad even Julie Molina in his arms, with her perfect, coconut scented curls wasn’t enough to keep him on that couch. 

He stepped back into the studio while he was drying his hands, just to watch her sleep. She had scrunched up into a ball when he had climbed out of the couch, reserving her warmth. He was pretty sure she was the most adorable person he had ever seen. It made him woozy. He wandered over to the little desk in the corner and pulled his notebook from his jacket pocket, snatching up a pen to write a few lines. 

_Bittersweet love story 'bout a girl  
_ _Voice like an angel  
_ _We come to life when we're  
_ _In perfect harmony_

He scribbled down the lyrics as fast as he could before the morning sun danced them out of his head, and then sat back, taking a deep breath, looking over and watching the rise and fall of her breathing. 

Waking up this place seemed to quiet all of the rage and grief in his head. Being with Julie, being in this place that had changed his life… he couldn’t think of anything he might need more. These last few weeks, writing and playing with Julie as the afternoon light had burned up around them; he had found something new to love about making music. It had given him something new to write music about, too. He’d never been in love before, but he was pretty sure this is what everyone was always talking about. She made him feel… alive, which was something he hadn’t even known he needed to feel. The band, the music, it was all so good, his life was barrelling headfirst towards his all of dreams coming true, he didn’t know it was possible to be happier than he had been. And then somehow, Julie’s lyrics fit his own like they were made for each other, and his whole world tilted on its axis. Everything he had given her she had made better, and somehow, she seemed to feel the same way. Being here with her, it was a balm on his grief ravaged chest.

She eventually woke up and made promises of bacon and eggs and coffee, her sleepy morning voice making Luke’s heart stutter in his chest. She walked out of the studio and he got up to walk around. This space was so _Julie_ , in all it’s perfect imperfections. The mismatched furniture, the butterflies scattered around the walls, he loved being in here. It felt like getting to see inside her head, just a little. He turned back to the desk to grab his notebook to write down another lyric and saw some pages of music peeking out from beneath a book on the desk. He glanced over at the door, he knew he probably shouldn’t look, but… he picked up the song. 

_Here's one thing I want you to know  
_ _You got some place to go  
Life's a test, yes, but you go toe-to-toe  
_ _You don't give up, no, you grow_

He liked the verse, but he quickly realised this was probably the song Julie’s mom had written for her. This was definitely not his business, she’d show it to him if she wanted to, so he slid it back under the book, when the last lines of the pre-chorus caught his eye. 

_So get up, get out, relight that spark  
y _ _ou know the rest by heart_

He had heard that line before, his brain raced to find out where. Julie had never shown him the song, maybe she had been humming it or-

_Oh._

He sat, staring at the page, until Julie walked back in, kicking the door to the studio open so she could manoeuvre in with her hands full of breakfast. He slipped the pages back under the book and tried to compose himself as he watched her. She settled the plates and cups onto the little table and plopped down, cross legged on the ground, looking up at him expectantly. 

_Soulmate_. 

He had been told about it as a kid. Whenever your soulmate couldn’t get a song out of their head, they sing it to you, that’s what his mom used to say. Because you were made for them, and they were made for you, you would sing to each other. Growing up, he heard music in his head all the time. It seemed like at least once a week she would sing him some new song, and he had always been sure she would be his perfect match, because she seemed to love music as much as he did. 

Boy was he right. 

He realised he was just staring at her, and she was making a face. 

“You alright Luke?”

He just nodded and went to settle in beside her, bringing the steaming cup to his mouth to give himself an excuse not to talk. They ate in relative silence, Julie seeming content to just let him exist next to her for a while, and he felt like climbing out of his own skin being this close to her without telling her. 

“Hey, so, my dad saw us. I told him what was up but I don’t think he’s okay with us sleeping out here together.” 

“Okay.” He shoveled another forkful of eggs into his mouth, trying to keep himself from just blurting out the words. 

“Are you okay?” She didn’t mean the way he wasn’t speaking. She meant last night. 

“I don’t know if I’m ‘okay’ but I feel better than I did last night.” 

“That’s good. I definitely understand needing to get angry and vent to someone.” The way she said it, it was clear she didn’t fully grasp that it wasn’t someone he had wanted to talk to, it was her. 

“I honestly didn’t even know I was coming here until I was outside in your front yard, and then I felt stupid, so I just came in here.” She grabbed her coffee cup and curled her legs up, leaning back and watching him. “I like being here. It’s… I feel… I didn’t realise it until I was here but there wasn’t anywhere else I wanted to be last night but here.” 

“You can always come here.” It was sweet, but she still didn’t seem to get what he meant. 

“There wasn’t anywhere else I wanted to be last night but here, with you.” The words felt thick in his mouth, the lyrics to that song plastered behind his eyelids. 

“Oh.” She just kept looking at him, burning a hole right through him. 

“And it’s not just because you understand what I’m going through, either.” He turned to face her, trying to keep his composure. “I mean that’s part of it, but it’s also because- well, it’s because-”

“You’re my soulmate.” She blurted out, cutting him off before clapping her hand over her mouth and then groaning loudly. “Damn it. I didn’t mean to- I just-“

“You know?!” He exclaimed, jumping up from the floor. 

“ _You_ know?!” She shouted, jumping up too. “How?” 

“I could ask you the same thing!” 

They were both yelling, which wasn’t how he had imagined this moment going, but there was nothing he could do about that now. He walked over and pulled the song off the desk and handed it to her. 

“I wasn’t trying to snoop, I promise, I thought it was something you wrote. I was putting it back when I saw these lyrics,” he pointed to the bottom of the page, “a couple weeks ago, in lit, I heard those lyrics… you were singing them to me.” 

“That’s when I knew it was you.” She let out a breath that sounded like it had been locked in her chest for weeks. 

“What?” He couldn’t wrap his head around it. She _knew,_ had known for weeks! 

“When I came to that gig, at Carrie’s house, and you guys played your new song, I realised someone in your band was my soulmate. I’d been hearing the lyrics to it in my head for days!” She was pacing now, her brow furrowed, her shoulders to her ears. “And then in class that day, after I had played my moms song, it was stuck in my head and you…”

_“Oh thank god.”_

He remembered the moment. The relief that had washed over him, hearing music from his soulmate again after so long. 

“I remember.”

“Yeah.” She stopped, fidgeting with her bracelets as she stood awkwardly in front of the piano. 

“You’ve known for weeks?” 

“Yeah, I didn’t know how to tell you, and then…” 

“Yeah.” 

“Honestly at first I didn’t know which one of you it was,” she paused, like suddenly she was shy about something, but then pressed on. “I was pretty sure it was either you or Reggie,” another pause. A beat. A breath. “I was really glad it _wasn’t_ Reggie.” 

He didn’t mean to laugh, but it burst out of him without his permission, and he didn’t think he had really laughed in almost two weeks, and it felt good to feel his chest tight with something other than sadness, so he let it happen. As his laughter subsided, he looked over to find her smiling, a little giggle escaping her lips. 

It was like suddenly he remembered just how much he liked her. Finding out she was his soulmate had melted his brain a little, but watching her smile at him, it was all coming back. He sprung into action, taking about four steps over to her, cupping her face in his hands, and kissing her. 

She let out a little gasp, but quickly her hands found their place around his waist and she was kissing him back. He parted his lips just enough to catch her bottom lip between his own, letting out a deep breath through his nose, melting into her just as she melted into him. Their lips pulled apart just a little, but she kept herself close, brushing her lips against his gently before pressing another kiss into the corner of his lips, and then again in the center, and she clearly had intentions to follow through to the other side but he caught her lips again, leaning her back a little as he kissed her again and again, soft and slow, until they weren’t even coming apart anymore between kisses, and they were just holding each other. They stayed that way until she pulled back to take a breath, and he pressed their foreheads together. 

“Are you mad I didn’t tell you sooner?” 

He shook his head just barely, not even opening his eyes. 

“This might sound dumb, after you just kissed me like that, but-”

“I’m happy it’s you.” He whispered before she could even ask.

“Okay.” He could hear the smile in her voice, and he leaned in again to kiss her, to feel her smile against his lips and taste her joy. 


End file.
